Wednesday, November 24, 2010

I have just been diagnosed w/ prostate cancer stage T1c, gleason score 6 psa 3. All 12 biopsy sticks had

i have just been diagnosed w/ prostate cancer stage T1c, gleason score 6 psa 3. All 12 biopsy sticks had ?
cancer in them. What is the chance that cancer has spread out the prostate?
Cancer - 7 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Sorry man I had an uncle who died from cancer
2 :
I am sorry to hear it John.:( If you know that detail I guess you have had a medical opinion. I don't know what that all means but I hope you see your doctor soon,
3 :
I m sorry for the cancer, but you cancer is mid aggressive( Gleason 6) in all prostate but you TNM is low ( t1c) and your Psa is moderately elevated . Because of the involvement and the gleason , it could have spread outside, you can do a bone scan ( most metastasis starts with damage to bone)
4 :
The most important distinction made by any staging system is whether or not the cancer is still confined to the prostate. In the TNM system, clinical T1 and T2 cancers are found only in the prostate, while T3 and T4 cancers have spread elsewhere. Several tests can be used to look for evidence of spread. These include computed tomography to evaluate spread within the pelvis, bone scans to look for spread to the bones, and endorectal coil magnetic resonance imaging to closely evaluate the prostatic capsule and the seminal vesicles. Bone scans should reveal osteoblastic appearance due to increased bone density in the areas of bone metastasis - opposite to what is found in many other cancers that metastasize.
5 :
It is hard to say. This situation is not so cut and dried and is one where the art of medicine comes into play. I hope you have had a long discussion with your urologist about this and that you have sought at least one other opinion. If not, I strongly suggest you do. Your question indicates you are young and there is still a good chance the cancer is confined to the prostate, so I would treat it as aggressively as possible now while you have the chance. Being young is not favorable in this circumstance. Your Gleason score, which determines aggressiveness of the cancer and the chance of recurrence, is right on the edge, but it is a good thing the cancer could not be palpated on exam. If you should decide to go with a prostatectomy I suggest you have it done robotically as it is less invasive making recovery faster and nerve damage less likely. I am sorry I cannot give you the answer you are looking for, but hopefully this helps a little. Best wishes. EDIT: After reading the other answers I feel I should explain staging. Prostate cancer is staged on the TNM system. T for tumor, N for nodes and M for metastasis. The total of these three elements is the stage of the disease. T1c is not your stage it is a clinical stage of the tumor only (that is what the “T” stands for) and it may change once the prostate is examined pathologically. It is very unlikely for a T1c to have mets. The prostate cancer mortality rate has decreased significantly since we began using PSA as part of the screening process as more T1c patients are identified and having organ confined disease. Patients at this stage should be treated for cure. Your PSA would only be considered moderately elevated if you are between 40-50 years of age, otherwise it is normal.
6 :
I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2005. My PSA was 4.5 and the gleason was 6. I am completely cured... my psa is now .1 (point one). I would seriously doubt your cancer has spread. It is very treatable. If you get proper treatments chances are you will not die of prostate cancer. I did a lot of reaearch and decided on Proton Radiation treatments for my prostate cancer. I had the treatments at Loma Linda Univerity Medical Center in Loma Linda California.. I had no side effects or even felt bad one single day during or after my treatments. It was like a 9 week vacation in southern california and I am cured. The reason I chose proton radiatioin treatments is that it has little to no side effects and an approximatley a 90% cure rate. There is a website called Proton Bob that tells alot about prostate cancer and proton radiation. If you go to the website be sure and read the Patient Testimonial section and you will see that any one who has ever had proton radiation treatments for prostate cancer is as sold on it as I am ... and why not a 90% cure rate and no side effects.. Also there is a book just recently out called YOU CAN BEAT PROSTATE CANCER, written by Robert J. Marckini, a prostate cancer survivor. The book is great. It tells all about prostate cancer and then tells about all of the various types of treatments that are available today including the pros and cons and side effects of each type treatment. The book can be purchased at barnes and noble or other book stores or on line at the Proton Bob website.. Any one with prostate problems should read the book.. It is very informative. My advise on your treatments is to not necessarily chose the treatments that your urologist recommends...Most of the time the doctor will recommend the type of treatment that he is trained to do.. which may not necessarily be the best for you.. plus if a doctor sends you elsewhere for treatments ... he makes no money.. that effects their recommendation lots.. sad but true... After having my Proton Radiation treatments, personally I would not consider having any other type of treatment.. Most of the other teatments have some pretty bad side effects..you sure need to check them out before you let your doctor start treating you.. .. the one that is best for him my not be the best for you.. do your home work.. All of the patients I met while having my treatments felt the same.. Also there were many patients at Loma Linda getting Proton Radiation who had radical surgery, seed implants or lupron treatments that did not work.. Every one of them wished they had known about Proton Radiation and had it earlier.. instead of the treatment that didnt work.. Im not saying the others dont work .. There are some good treatments available... but some have some side effects that you need to know about before you agree to take that particular treatment.. Your numbers sound very treatable to me.. I met people with much higher numbers who were doing fine after being treated.. If you read the Proton Bob testimonal section, Im sure there are some there with high scores who were treated several years ago and still cancer free.. If you have any questions about my experience with prostate cancer or proton radiation, please feel free to email me here at yahoo answers.. I hope this helps ... have a good day and good luck. Also I didnt mention why Proton Radiation has little to no side effects.. Approximatlely 90% of the treatment energy from Proton Radiaton is released exactly at the point of the tumor being treated, there fore surrounding body tissue and organs are not damanged as they are when one has conventional radition... So since the only area effected as a result of the radiation is the area needing to be treated.. you have very few if any side effects.. as I mentioned earlier I had -0- side effects and most dont.. the ones that do have side effects are very mild.. and nothing permanent.... I dont mean to over do it.. but I think proton radiaton is the very best treatment available for prostate cancer there is today.
7 :
Your stage, gleason, and PSA scores all indicate Low Risk disease, so chances are the prostate cancer is still confined to the organ. As for the therapy you should choose, people can tell you all kinda of different things on this board, but you need to speak to not only your Urologist, but also I would recommend getting information from medical and radiation oncologists. There isn't a single right way to treat the problem, but there maybe one that would suit you the best.






 Read more discussions :